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[0:00] But the message tonight is about the fear of God. The fear of God. The fear of the Lord. And it's a subject that the Bible speaks much of.!

[0:30] There's reflections of these truths much more than 45 times. So it certainly is important. The Bible stresses it. It's an important subject. And it says, firstly, as the one that we just read, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

[0:47] And the knowledge of the holy is understanding. So it's saying there, Proverbs 9 verse 10, that's the starting point for wisdom. You know, if you want to be an academic, a university kind of intellectual, then here's where it begins.

[1:04] Now this is kindergarten, really. This is where it begins. This is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord. It is the most important.

[1:15] It's the basic starting point to wisdom, the wisdom of life. And we'd do well to take heed to this truth that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

[1:27] Right here is where it begins, the fear of the Lord. That's number A. That's number one. The first point, the alpha and the omega, is the fear of the Lord.

[1:39] It's the knowledge of the holy, the fear of God. What is that? What is that? You know, we can use this phrase without maybe kind of reflecting. What does it mean?

[1:50] What is it all about? And when we fear God, it's speaking about that acknowledgement of his holiness, of his highness, of his greatness, of his authority, of his power.

[2:02] And our unworthiness in context of that. When we fear God, it means that we hold him in the highest of places, in that highest regard.

[2:13] And we yield to him in that absolute surrender, that submission, that we completely trust him, who is the authority above all authorities.

[2:24] He is the king above all kings. He is the Lord above all lords. And we love him supremely above all others. That's the fear of God. It's saying, we esteem our God as mighty, as almighty.

[2:38] So what does it look like, the fear of God, when it's translated into a human life? It's when we truly fear the Lord, is when we revere and we honour him. When we are in awe of him, and we honour him, who is the all-powerful, the almighty.

[2:55] We see that there in the second one, Isaiah 8, verse 13. Isaiah 8, verse 13, which says, to sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. In other words, esteem him as greatly holy.

[3:08] He has sanctified. He has set apart above all else. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. And the host speaks of armies. He's the Lord, he's the commander-in-chief of the armies of heaven and earth.

[3:21] The almighty God, the commander-in-chief. He says, let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. We are to magnify and exalt our God.

[3:34] It's a command. It's something that we ought to take heed of, and we ought to take action personally on. Is it important? Notice who feared God in the Bible.

[3:48] There's many of them. Let me rattle off some names to you. Of whom it is spoken, they feared God. Noah feared God. Abraham feared God.

[4:00] Joseph feared God. Moses feared God. Jacob, Israel, Nehemiah feared God. Job feared God. David, of David it says, his flesh trembled for fear of God.

[4:15] Hezekiah feared the Lord. The king decreed that the man should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel when he was miraculously spared. The king decreed across the nation that men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.

[4:31] Daniel himself stood trembling. Jonah feared the Lord. He got a shakeup well and truly, didn't he? Peter, James and John, that says of them that they were sore afraid.

[4:43] They were greatly afraid. Says the centurion, as he beheld the one of whom he said, surely this was the son of God. It says the centurion feared greatly. The disciples feared exceedingly.

[4:56] Even the man hanging on the cross next to our Lord told of the fear of God and he got saved just in time. Just in time. Just as he was breathing his last breaths, he spoke of the fear of God and he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

[5:18] And our Lord assured him, yes, today. You shall be with me in paradise. He feared God and he got saved. In Acts 2, it says that the fear of God came upon every soul.

[5:32] And it says in Acts 5, great fear came upon all the church. This was the norm. This was the old normal, as it were, of Acts. This was the old normal.

[5:43] And we should have today, shouldn't we? That the fear of God came upon all the church. Fear came upon every soul. That's the book of Acts.

[5:53] And during the millennium, it says that all the ends of the earth shall fear him. It seems in our day, though, that many are careless of such a truth, of such a doctrine.

[6:07] Many are careless and uncaring, unheeding. There's a casual, counterfeit kind of Christianity that prevails where it feels like God's just a big cosmic buddy.

[6:19] You know, that's the kind of sentiment, isn't it? The way that it's put out there, it's almost like God is just someone you can talk of or speak to in such a careless way that it's not that reverence of him who is the holy, the holy one.

[6:41] Some would scarcely give a thought for such a subject as this and think, oh, that's old-fashioned. Oh, that's maybe too biblical. That's how some might consider it.

[6:53] And sadly, friends, today, I was just seeing some recent news reports that in the US of A, they're now burning Bibles on the streets. This is what's happening.

[7:05] I saw a picture, well, a little video clip of some people burning Bibles. That's, this is in the US of A, and Portland, it's called.

[7:16] And there's this carelessness now that that which is sacred is treated such that they would burn it as a kind of mockery unto the holy God.

[7:26] This is not something to laugh about, really, is it? It's very sad. Very sad. And it's like, as the Bible speaks of a time when they've forgotten to blush. It's almost like sin is just so out there, it's in your face so much that people just see it and they don't blush anymore.

[7:44] There's no sense of, oh, that's wrong, that's shameful. They've lost their sense of shame, that sense of sin, of that degradation of it. Because we live in a world where there's no thought or care about God and truth and it seems the world is deceived as the Bible says it would be and ruled by Satan temporarily as the Bible says it would be.

[8:10] And we surely have, I put to you tonight, a pressing need of the fear of God in our land. Wouldn't you say? Wouldn't we to know, to care about this?

[8:25] Shouldn't it move us? Shouldn't it press our spirits to consider this? What is it then? What is the fear of God? Again, what is it? It's actually a very positive thing.

[8:37] Some would think, oh, the fear of God you're talking about is all being like the Amish or some kind of, we've all got to look somber-faced and church has to be some dismal, dreary and deadly, deathly thing that we dare not have a smile and dare not enjoy Christianity.

[8:56] No, far from that, far from that. It's actually a very positive, desirable thing, the fear of God. It's actually something we should aspire to, something we should yearn for, it's something that should attract us, that we should be earnestly endeavouring to see, to realise, to find, to know, to fear God.

[9:17] It's a blessed thing to know Him, and to know His life eternal, to know His life, to make Him your refuge and your strength. We say that, it says in Proverbs 14 verse 26 through 27 of the fear of the Lord, it's something good.

[9:33] It says the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and His children shall have a place of refuge. This is Proverbs 14 26 through 27 and it goes on, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death.

[9:52] This is a great thing. This is a glad thing. This is a worthy thing for you. To fear God is our hope. It's a great assurance for us. It's a strong confidence it says for those that know this.

[10:05] There is in the fear of the Lord a strong confidence. We have a sure refuge. I put to you, friends, the Bible says you have a refuge and a strength, a fortress, a strong deliverer, a strong confidence for you that trust Him.

[10:22] You have a sure refuge. You have the Almighty as your friend. Not as your cosmic buddy as it were but as your friend, the friend of friends, the friend of sinners, the friend that we should be glad to have.

[10:35] Such a friend. Such a friend. The Almighty God. That is a blessed bind, isn't it? The fear of God, it gets us through the hard times of life, the tough things.

[10:48] Our God, consider if He is the God of gods, if He is the Lord of lords, if He is the Almighty Creator of the universe which He surely is, then to know Him is the absolute, isn't it?

[11:04] It's the ultimate, isn't it? Doesn't it put a smile on your dial to know Him? Yes, it does. To know Him, Him in His limitless power has fashioned the universe.

[11:15] He's made you. He's got the strength to answer our prayers. He's got the capacity to care for the hurting wherever we are, whatever's happening for us.

[11:31] and we need not fear the future if we know this one. We need not fear the future because He already holds the future. He already knows the future ahead of time and surely the awesomeness of our God is our confidence.

[11:46] It's our confidence. Proverbs 14, 26, the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. I'm not talking about self-confidence. That's good to have but God confidence, that's even better.

[12:00] Amen? The awesomeness of our God, it's strong confidence and to fear God means to stand in awe of Him. It says that in Psalm 33, verse 8, it says, let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

[12:18] Stand in awe of Him. When we're walking in the fear of the Lord, we can have a confidence in our God that He is on our side. To think, if this mighty one is our friend, is our Lord, that He is by us.

[12:32] He is with us. And you know, yesterday when we're talking on the streets and Peter and I had teamed up and we knocked on a door and there was a man there, he said that he had a very confronting job, you could say.

[12:48] A very confronting job. A mortician in a major hospital and his job was to deal every day with bodies and friends, death is real.

[13:05] We urge that man to find peace with God. Trust that something happened there. Something happened in that man. We should stand in awe of this one because he holds the power of death and hell and the gates of hell.

[13:21] He holds the power of the universe in his hands and we should fear this one with whom we have to deal and with one day we will face our death unless he takes us up first.

[13:37] It says, let all the earth fear the Lord. To know this one, the Almighty, is to know him who holds your life in his hand.

[13:51] When we're walking in the fear of the Lord we can have a confidence that God is on our side. That makes all the difference, doesn't it? To know that God is with you. We said to this man, that's why I was kind of reflected on him, I mentioned that there was actually another instance where there was another woman who just, her husband had just passed away as well and then there was another one whose husband was in hospital and yeah, it was like there was death after death after death, wasn't there?

[14:22] Almost like three in a row and I said to one of them that we need fear no evil because though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil but thou art with me.

[14:36] And friends, if you fear the Lord God such that you walk through the very valley of the shadow of death, he says, I will be with you and that just answers the whole questions of life and death, doesn't it?

[14:49] Of life itself and when we're walking in the fear of the Lord, even though we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil because he is with us. We have that confidence. God is on our side and that makes all the difference.

[15:02] His might and power is for us. You know, when you think of who would you want with you if you're going through something difficult, you'd want someone strong, wouldn't you?

[15:15] Who stronger could you go to than God himself, the strength of God? And it says in Romans 8.31, what shall we say then to these things? Talking about some tests and such and in Romans 8.31 Paul says, if God be for us, who can be against us?

[15:35] If God is for us and the Bible says he is for you, he is for you, amen, he is for you. If God is for you then, who can be against us? You can take heart. There's strong confidence in the fear of God.

[15:47] The person who is walking in the fear of God has a blessed assurance. They walk with God, they know his promises, they know his presence, his shelter, his safekeeping. The fear of God, it gives us a strong sense of security and of close fellowship with our Father.

[16:03] To you who fear him, he says he will fellowship with you. That's a great assurance, isn't it? That's a strong confidence, isn't it? It says in Isaiah 66 verse 2, Isaiah 66 verse 2, For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord, but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word.

[16:29] Now he's not going to look to the people that are burning the Bibles, he's going to look to the people that are trembling at the Bible. Wow, this is serious stuff. This is holy. This is a holy Bible.

[16:43] I should listen to what God says in it, to my soul. And it says, to this one I'll look, the one who's humble, contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word. The word's full of many examples.

[16:57] As I mentioned Noah, Noah knew a closeness to God. When all the world was about to be destroyed, God saw Noah and Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

[17:12] Noah was a man moved with godly fear. We talked about Nehemiah being moved this morning. Well, Noah was moved with godly fear. It says that in Hebrews 11 verse 7. It says, by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

[17:33] Noah, he was warned and he took heed of that warning and he was moved with fear, with godly fear, he was moved by that warning with the judgment confronting him and he prepared an ark to the saving of his house.

[17:48] Now we know only eight were saved in the whole planet. That's confronting, isn't it? That's not many. Eight out of would have been millions.

[18:02] Noah feared the Lord. That's what made the difference. He was just, declared just by God. And our works will be judged. Friends, judgment is coming, truly. We see judgment, surely, the signs of judgment ahead of us.

[18:18] And the judgment to come is based on the holiness of God. We see that in 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1. It says, Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

[18:34] Having these promises, cleanse ourselves, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. You have the judgment. Judgment's coming.

[18:45] And friends, we ought not to take lightly the things of God. I'm not meaning to unduly press a negative here, but there is the reality that if you are not right with God, then you're in a very bad place right now.

[19:06] And I don't want to skirt around that because that's really important to say. You're either in the ark or you're in the flood. You know, you need to get in the boat.

[19:18] And in Noah's time, the door was open for a season and then God shut the door. Noah didn't shut it. God knew that time's up, shut the door.

[19:29] And the angels or however God's hand, he shut the door. God shut the door. Friends, the time will be up and it's going to be too late. The fear of God.

[19:39] It should be a motivator, a good motivator. I need to get right with God. I've got to stop pretending I'm a Christian or playing around, playing church. I've got to sitting on the fence.

[19:51] I've got to get in the ark. It should motivate us, the fear of God. It should motivate us. Proverbs 3 verse 7 it says, Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil.

[20:06] There's a motivator there. There's a motivator for you Christians here tonight to personal holiness. Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil.

[20:19] It's clear, isn't it? Fear the Lord depart from evil. We see the example of Job in Job 1 verse 8. The Lord was speaking to Satan and he said, Hast thou considered my servant Job?

[20:30] There's none like him in the earth, the perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and asshueth evil, or in other words, shuns evil. He feared God and he shunned evil. Job had his challenges didn't he?

[20:51] Even though he feared God, God gave him quite a test. And just friends, if you're going through a test, don't think God's left you, he's right there with you. He's right in it, with you.

[21:03] Fear of God. It should motivate us to witness too. In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 11, it says this, 2 Corinthians Paul says we know the terror of the Lord.

[21:25] Sometimes we almost have to get a sense of it. I know Booth said he'd like some of his preachers to just spend a few seconds in hell as it were just to be getting the sense of it.

[21:39] This is serious. If there is a hell and the Bible says there is such a hell then we ought to take it seriously. We don't want to see anybody go there. And God's given us the commission to tell people the way to escape hell.

[21:56] It's so important the terror of the Lord it should be such that we want to tell others we want to persuade men that's why we care about witnessing that's why we want to open our mouths and tell somebody while we can.

[22:09] It's a fearful thing to enter if we knew that there was a bridge out ahead we'd want to stop the traffic don't go that way if we saw a fire starting in a house and there was people sleeping upstairs we'd want to yell with all our might get out the burning it's burning get out save yourself we want to tell people to get out of the burning building and likewise too as Christians we've got a message that matters we must warn the lost it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and our work as God's witnesses is done with that sense it's not that we are holier than thou it was only by the grace of God we'd be in that burning building someone told us we want to tell others amen we're

[23:11] God's witnesses there's that sense of the fear of God he's saved us we want to tell others the blessing to how they can know this saving of God's mercy and we want to impart that it says that in Jude 1 23 where it says of having compassion it says saved with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh it's almost that kind of picture of a fire rescue team going into a burning building and dragging out them dragging them out before they would burn I know I saw a little video clip of a car accident and there was a woman trapped in this car and it was catching fire and these couple of policemen braved the fire to cut the seatbelt and to drag this woman out of the burning car before she was burnt to death and they were able to save her this is the picture of her now I've had occasion where there's one time that it wasn't anything of the same seriousness but it was actually along

[24:16] Main North Road just near the Saints Road intersection and I happened to be driving by and this car bang it just he'd gone down Golden Grove Road and turned into Main North heading towards Elizabeth and he must have taken the corner a bit too sharply and he smashed into this gum tree and this car was just and there he was still in the car and I wasn't far away I just pulled over and ran over to the car and there was others there around the car and there was others that a bit more first aid kind of minded than I was I was just really just more of an observer and I didn't want to get in the way of these ones helping but then someone said and the radio was blaring and in the car and he said oh because he was trying to help hold his neck up of this man that sat in the car in the driver's seat and he had this RAF uniform on he must have worked at Edinburgh but he was holding the man's neck so he wouldn't kind of sustain injury to his neck from the whiplash or whatever and he said reach over and turn the radio off and so

[25:24] I just reached through because I think the car doors were all squashed and unable to open so I reached down and turned the car radio off that was that was the extent of my help just so that they could talk to each other because the radio was so loud and and here's this poor guy and I could see blood on him and everything and I think this is the picture of a man in danger a man needing rescue and it's the picture for us brothers and sisters we should we should be moved by this you know that car wasn't burning but maybe it could have started to to burn and would have had to try to drag that man out for fear of of his life being taken this is the reality and I'm using that as a kind of how graphic can I paint a picture to you today of the fear of the danger that need of warning that need of action by us we are the rescue team brothers and sisters now people who do not fear God are in great danger and they may not realise it that's even more the point they're in danger but they don't even realise it it says of the lost in Romans 3 verse 18 there is no fear of God before their eyes they're blinded it says the Bible the minds of them who believe not the devil has blinded their minds such that they cannot see their need their danger and for we that are saved we have the message we who can truly see we have the fear of God that motivates us to communicate his saving grace to the lost think of it the fear of God it was the fear of God that converted the shipmates of the prophet Jonah you know they were fearful as the waves crashed and they found out yes Jonah is the problem and the fear of God overwhelmed these sailors on the vessel that Jonah was on and then later in the inhabitants of Nineveh it was the fear of God that converted them they came to that fear of God that fear of God's judgement they found God's saving and some have even read

[27:26] I heard an account of a man who read the last book in the Bible it tells you what's going to happen oh that's scary that's fearful if you don't know God then that's fearful stuff isn't it and I wonder whether that man's hand started to tremble as he turned those pages what's going to happen next and it says of this man that he read that book and he said I better get right with God because that says that there's going to be some fearful things the fearful wrath the wrath of the Lamb the wrath of God is going to be poured out in the book of Revelation and he was moved by the fear of God to trust the Saviour Amen the fear of God it motivates us it should motivate us to obey God to find his saving to fear God it leads us into obedience in Psalm 111 verse 10 it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a like to that first one a good understanding of all they that do his commandments his praise endureth forever the fear of the Lord it's a good thing it's the beginning of wisdom you know don't worry about signing up for university you know this is this is the beginning of wisdom often the universities are the last place to go

[28:35] I think sometimes and I'm speaking as a university qualified person that's a this is the beginning of wisdom Amen this is the beginning of wisdom get that get understanding get wisdom get the fear of God think of Adam and Eve they disobeyed and they paid the price we see Jonah disobeyed pay the price Samson they all pay this high price for disobeying God their fear of God was not such that it moved them to do right we'd all do well to fear God our friends tonight to avoid the mistakes that they have made you know the Bible's great because it tells us stories of men and women and it tells us their stories warts and all it shows that you know David he had a heart after God but he he made some very grave sin he did he fell into grave sin it tells us warts and all there's no hiding of things you know some kind of so called holy books that paint people in all these bright colours and there's no faults with them but the Bible shows us they were human they were people just like you and me with all the faults and fickles and failings and friends they had a high price to pay and friends if you fear God you'll see don't make the mistakes they did if you belong to God he's going to correct you it says that in Hebrews 12 verse 6 the Lord loves for whom the Lord loves he chastens and he scourges every son whom he receives he will convict he will chasten as he did with people like David

[30:06] David got chastened David knew he was in the wrong place David was moved to get back on track he was moved from his backsliding to seek after the restoration of the joy of his salvation we see as Paul he was struck down on the Damascus road we see Moses he feared and he quaked and God worked mightily God commands us to fear him friends and we find that true fulfilment here we see in Deuteronomy 10 verse 12 now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God and to walk in his ways and to love him and to serve him to serve thy Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul God requires it of us and actually we cannot serve God acceptably without it Hebrews 12 28 it talks about we have a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear why for our God is a consuming fire you know you can't think to even serve him without that reverence that godly fear it's the starting point that holy awe of God and friends it says that God delights in such as fear him it pleases our God we see that in

[31:23] Psalm 147 verse 11 here's one to really get a hold of the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy it's a great joy to think that you would gladden the very heart of God that God would take pleasure in you that God would take pleasure in such as me the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him there's pleasure to God there's pleasure to yourself there's God's pleased God delights in those who fear him don't you want to please God you can't please God by anything that you do but you can please God by fearing him there's something that you can get from you can give a delight to the heart of God as you would fear him as you would honour him and it's a privilege to know him this is life abundant Proverbs 14 27 talks about the fountain of life Proverbs 19 23 says it tendeth to life and it talks about in Proverbs 10 27 the fear of the Lord prolongeth days but the years of the wicked shall be shortened now that's an interesting one too

[32:28] Proverbs 10 27 the fear of the Lord prolongeth days but the years of the wicked shall be shortened now we know of course that may not always be the case in every situation but there is a reality that human illnesses they reckon 60% of human illnesses can be directly or indirectly traced to fear sorrow envy resentment guilt hatred or any number of emotional stresses and there's the awful pain caused by alcohol cirrhosis of the liver tobacco emphysema cancer heart disease immorality venereal diseases AIDS if you fear the Lord you'll avoid I trust you would avoid those things you wouldn't have all of that emotional baggage because and as much as I put it to you I believe Christians can have some mental illnesses it can have mental challenges it's not that we're not subject to that but as the fear of the Lord if we have the fear of God if we have that assurance that God is our Lord and Saviour he does help our mind he helps our body he helps our well-being in all of these departments of life and we don't have the fear or the overcoming sense of dread that those who do not know the

[33:53] Saviour can be filled with guilt and all of this baggage this emotional baggage because we have one to go to we have Dr. Jesus to go to amen we have the great physician and he can heal us he can help us to overcome he can take care of us from the tip of our head to the tips of our toes and it says that the fear of the Lord prolongeth days there's a good thing it's healthy to fear God it's a healthy thing for us and this great blessing found in fearing God it says in Psalm 112 verse 1 praise you the Lord blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments it says blessed that word blessed means happy there's a joy there's a joy in fearing there's a joy there likewise we read in Psalm 128 verse 1 through 2 blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord that walketh in his ways for thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord now what greater blessing can there be to know the Saviour really there's no greater blessing there's no greater joy no greater delight than to know the

[35:06] Saviour of your soul to know the creator the designer of your life as your personal Saviour the fear of the Lord it changes our outlook and our company we see that in Psalm 119 verse 63 we want to fellowship with others with that same heart with that like mind we want to fellowship with others it says I'm a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts I'm a companion of them there's good fellowship where we can mutually encourage one another we that love the Lord there's a wonderful a mutual benefit isn't there yeah there's that mutual getting together and encouraging one another and it says in Psalm 89 verse 7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints so we had in reverence of all them that are about him the Bible says we're a peculiar people we're a little bit there's something different for those that know

[36:07] Jesus as saviour we're in a special gathering of people this is special tonight to be amongst those amongst whom God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints there's something good there that happens when we get together and if we fear the Lord we can know a godly courage David sings in Psalm 34 verse 7 that the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them now the stories of missionaries where they've been confronted by attacking tribes where there's been some kind of angelic manifestation I believe some of those would be true that they would be such where there's some manifest divine intervention and sometimes maybe not manifest to the eye but truly the Lord encamps round about you you that fear him and he delivers you

[37:12] Psalm 27 talks about the Psalm of David it says that the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid and again he says that though a host encamp against me my heart shall not fear he says that he's got that confidence in God it's been said that when you fear God more than man then you will fear man less than God you know what can man do to me he's in charge he's the one who's looking after me when you fear God more than man you'll fear man less than God and you'll have that heart that well I'm in his hand even though I face many challenges maybe there's situations that you're going through at work at home where there's it's difficult for you maybe to communicate your faith that God is with you and and and your fear is unto him it's not unto them and it's getting that perspective isn't it it helps now friends as much talk about love and of course the Bible tells us

[38:23] God is love but some at times can make the error of of going too far into the love not realizing there's actually some hatred there's actually some good hatred now this might sound a bit controversial when you first hear me saying this but it's actually good for you to hate some things alright the Bible says it's good to be against some things as well as for something so what should we hate we should hate evil that's what we should hate we should hate evil the word shows us what to hate it tells us that in Proverbs 8 13 it says the fear of the Lord is to hate evil to hate evil pride arrogancy the evil way the froward mouth or the perverse mouth do I hate it says that the fear of the Lord is to hate evil so it's a good thing for you to get some good hatred in you hate of course we know as the saying goes we hate the sin but we don't hate the sinner as such but for the grace of God we would be such but the fear of

[39:25] God is that we hate evil we're against it that's why when there's some political questions about certain law making or certain policies of certain government bodies that we will say no that's actually something we are against we hate abortion we hate so called same sex marriage we hate some things that are against God we hate those things that would promote that which is evil we hate the proposal to legalize prostitution in South Australia we hate that because it's against God it's against what is righteous it's against what is good it's against what is decent and honourable so there's a good thing the fear of the Lord is to hate evil and it tells us that in Proverbs 16 verse 6 that the fear of the Lord makes us depart from evil so as we get that greater sensitivity as we truly fear God it's going to change us we're going to have a bit of a change of heart of mind about things about our walk it says the fear of the

[40:32] Lord men depart from evil so we're going to say when you come to the cross roads and there's a wide junction you're going to say that says evil that says God's way well I'm going to go God's way I'm going to do what my conviction tells me is the right thing to do what is the righteous thing to do and I'm going to fear God not going to take that turn the fear of God enables!

[41:07] What are we going to do that's the question here tonight and the starting point is the beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord and if we fear God we know his greatness and his glory we'll realize the message that should burn in our hearts of the blessed Lord our God of the Lord Jesus and his work at Calvary that the blood!

[41:35] shed for man is the message that matters to our soul and it awakens us as we come with tender hearts to this awesome God we realize in his great majesty that he would step down from heaven's glory and come and be manifest as it was God manifest in the flesh he was revealed in the flesh he came in that human person of the Lord Jesus Christ as perfect man as perfect God and come in his greatness and glory to such as we that's awesome isn't it that's awesome the fear of God we should be in fear of him in awe of him in wonder in reverence in love in joy of him and more that we can know him wow that's precious isn't it that we can know him personally that's that's just out of this world isn't it out of sight the fear of the way to him and he hears us wow isn't that something we'll never get that you know have you ever tried to ring

[42:42] I've had some experiences lately trying to ring certain companies that shall be nameless and optus and you're on the phone for ages and ages and then they say leave a message or you get hung up on it it's just really bad sometimes isn't it but this one that you can come to I'm not meaning to make this too much levity here but the sense that this one that you can call he says call unto me and I'll answer thee call unto me and I'll answer thee God's going to answer that call he will answer your call he's not going to put you on hold he's not going to give you that kind of waiting music or tell you I want to call on him but I've just not taken that step make it now make that call now you know this this offer us for a limited time only honestly there's that sense where salvation is a limited time only and honestly we don't have any guarantees beyond today beyond the now beyond an hour from now friends answer make that call call on the name of the

[44:00] Lord he will save you the fear of the Lord it leads to answered prayer it says that in Psalm 145 verse 19 you can see I'm almost there 145 verse 19 he will fulfill the desire of them that fear him he will hear their cry them that fear him he will hear their cry now get serious with God think about he's awesome he's loved me so much he's given everything he's the one he's left heaven's glory and he's come down to such as me he's extending his gift he's offering salvation he's the one and we that have trusted him whatever you're going through he's always there he's never leaves you he never forsakes you and he'll always answer your call and he'll be with you even through the valley of the shadow of death he will be with you and so there's a may we come in this world where they're rejecting the very thought of

[45:02] God when they're calling evil good and they're calling good evil and this topsy turvy crazy values they call it of this world it's very poor isn't it in this God rejecting world they've lost the fear of God that's the point that's that's really I guess what it boils down to there's no fear of God before their eyes and we see through the travels of the people of God through the pages of the various kings and judges and such that there was those that feared the Lord and there was those who didn't fear the Lord and it's you're either one or the other where are you going to sit where are you going to be are you going to be in the camp that says I he's going to separate the lost from the saved and it's a one way journey if you're lost it's a one way ticket to hell there's no getting out of it if you haven't trusted him this side of eternity and friends that's why we want to persuade men because of the terror of the

[46:17] Lord the terror of God and because there's a glad assurance This is too good to miss because you that trust him you that fear him there's a strong confidence for you that God has accepted you as it says we can come boldly before the presence of his glory we can come boldly to the throne of grace and find grace to help mercy to help in time of need we've got a strong confidence some Christians or professing Christians they don't have that strong confidence it's like even those who might profess him it's not that strong confidence in them and this is not to say that we how would you put it kind of act in a brash kind of oh I'm confident it's not a confidence in you it's a confidence in him and you that fear the Lord you have a strong confidence there's a glad hope for you there's an assurance there's an assurance and you know it's another point as I know when we're doing the witnessing at times and you're talking to people and when you actually ask and I

[47:30] Peter's really good at this asking those more let's cut to the bone here are you 100% sure you'd go to heaven if you were to die tonight and really many people say oh well I've been in church all my life I'm a church goer or whatever it be but they haven't made that come to that point when they cross over the Bible says we've passed from death unto life have you actually made there's a bridge there you've got to go from death to life there's a chasm there you've got to go from death to life you've got to go from one side to the other and when we kind of assure them maybe it's just putting it into words what has happened or it's just making it clear yes my trust is not in me my confidence is in God my trust is in that Jesus yes Jesus has died for me and I do trust him and it's so simple it's almost too easy isn't it you know some Bible translations kind of change it to make salvation hard no it's not hard it's as easy as yes Lord yes Lord yes Lord yes trust

[48:43] I believe I believe help thou my unbelief it's that step over from unbelief to belief step over blind to see lost saved and know that glad hope that glad assurance that strong confidence take refuge in him and trust in his steadfast love just as we close here Psalm 86 verse 11 it says teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name it's a good prayer to pray say Lord teach me your truth unite my heart to fear thy name in other words get a heart for God say Lord I trust you let's just close with this sentiment now as we take refuge in him Lord we thank you dear God we know you are awesome you are awesome and we stand in awe of you we know

[49:44] Lord that everything you did to take a soul from heaven to heaven was done at the cross and Lord we pray each one might have that strong confidence to find their refuge in you Lord not by any confidence in ourselves but our entire confidence in you and Lord we put our hearts trust in you and we know that you will give us that strong confidence Lord God we pray for any here searching that they will keep on searching until they find and for others Lord here tonight maybe Christians that have been through some troubled times Lord help us to refresh that reverence that awe of you that holy godly love for you that fellowship with you stir our hearts Lord unite our hearts to fear thy name help us to have a greater deeper love and a stronger walk with you and help us Lord to have such a love that we want to tell others to and we want to persuade men in a good way as your witnesses

[50:55]  Lord and as your people Lord we pray for each one here tonight as we shortly go our separate ways that you'll give us travelling mercies and help us Lord to be mindful of these things in Jesus name amen